Week 1: Introductions, Course Expectations, and Research Ethics

Dr. T. Kody Frey

Associate Professor | School of Information Science

Getting Started

What is “The Law of the Hammer?”

“When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail” (Maslow, 1962)
“Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding” (Kaplan, 1964, p. 28)
“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”

Overview

Introductions
Expectations
Foundations
- Definitions
- Purposes
- Dichotomies
- Types
Research Ethics / CITI Training

There is time reserved at the end for you to begin / potentially complete your required CITI training to engage in research.

Introductions

Name
Quantitative Research Experience
Comfort Level with Statistics
CI 665 Personal Learning Objectives
Concerns about the course
Potential Research FOCUS for Fall 2025

Kody Frey

Associate Professor of Information Communication Technology and Instructional Communication Research
PhD from UKY in 2019 (Supervised by Derek Lane)
MA from Illinois State and BA from Clemson
Specialization is in instructional policies, behavioral learning, and research methods

Who are you?

Expectations

Teaching/Professor Expectations

I will commit to giving you a world-class learning experience. But I will need you to commit as well:

Prepare for each week having read and reflected on the assigned readings
Outline the readings
Annotate them with your thoughts
Keep track of your burning questions / points of confusion as you go
Contribute to the class discussion

If there is anything I can do to make this course more relevant to you, your work, and/or your research interests, please let me know. I encourage you to take advantage of my office hours, or better yet, email me to make an appointment. I have an open-door policy and I’m willing to help whenever and wherever needed.

Teaching/Professor Expectations

Our success as a class is built on 4 elements:

Trust
Cooperation
Support
Mutual Respect

Course Expectations

Textbook: Research Methods in Applied Settings

Readings: Course Schedule

APA 7th Edition: Purdue OWL

APA Template: Canvas

Course Expectations

CITI Training: Office of Research Integrity

SPSS: UKY Downloads - free

R / RStudio / Posit: Open source - also free!

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

Develop research ideas and turn them into testable questions;
Design and conduct ethical social scientific studies using quantitative research approaches;
Map theoretical constructs onto their concrete operationalizations;
Measure latent constructs in reliable and valid ways;
Locate, critically read, summarize, and critique reports of empirical research;
Write transparent reports of studies using quantitative research methods.

Daily Structure

Lecture (50 minnutes)
10 min Break
Readings / Discussion (50 minutes)
10 min break
Workshop (50 minutes)

Course Structure

In-Class Participation (50)
Concept Paper #1 - Conceptualization (50)
Concept Paper #2 - Operationalization (50)
Concept Paper #3 - Methods Section (100)
Midterm Exam (200)
Statistical Problem Sets (3 x 50 each; 150 total)
Research Paper (300):
CITI Certification (50)
IRB Protocol (50)
Final Survey in Qualtrics (50)
Final Paper (150)
Final Conference Presentation (100)

Course Structure

Final Group Research Paper

You will work in groups of 2-3 to complete your own, data-driven research paper. You can decide your groups based on today’s introductions and research interests. Topics need to be approved by 9/8.

Content Part 1

GML Chapter 1

Foundations

Definitions
- Theory
- Research
- Method
Purposes
- Increasing Knowledge
- Theory Development
- Practical Application
- Development of Research Tools
Dichotomies
- Theoretical vs. Applied
- Quantitative vs. Qualitative
- Objective vs. Subjective
- Statistical vs. Descriptive
Approaches
- Experimental
- Nonexperimental
- Descriptive

The Method Behind the Magic

The Magic Number

Definitions

Theory

“A theory is a set of interrelated constructs (concepts), definitions, and propositions that present a systematic view of phenomena by specifying relations among the variables, with the purpose of explaining and (or) predicting the phenomena.” (Kerlinger, 1986)

“A theory is a way of making sense of a disturbing situation.” (Kaplan, 1964)

Theory

Dubin (1978)

Research

Research Methods

“The strategies and tools used to collect evidence necessary for building or testing explanations (theories) about that which is being studied.”

Research: “Disciplined method of gaining new information, building knowledge, or answering questions; also called disciplined inquiry; implies a systematic investigation with underlying guidelines regardless of the particular research paradigm.”

4 Broad Categories:

Experiments
Surveys
Textual Analysis
Naturalistic Inquiry

Experimental Research

Purpose is to discover causal relationships between variables.

Control is a central characteristic.

Survey Research

Purpose is to discover how large groups of people think and act.

Describes the characteristics of the respondents and the populations they were chosen to represent.

Focus is on beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.

Textual Analysis

Purpose is to describe and interpret the characteristics of a recorded or visual message.

Focus is on content, structure, and functions of messages contained in texts.

Naturalistic Inquiry

Purpose is to study people in the situations where they usually interact, behaving as they customarily do when engaged in everyday activity.

Focus is on how people behave when they are absorbed in genuine life experiences.

Our Focus

To make trusthworthy generalizations…

Samples must be representative
Response rates must be sufficient
Questions must be unbiased
Data collections procedures must be uniform
Coding and analysis must be accurate

Purposes

Theory Development

“The best research is driven by theory, validates a theory, further explains a theory, challenges an existing theory, or aids in the creation of theory. Theoretically driven research is built on the results of previous researchers, and it provides a foundation for subsequent researchers. It is highly unlikely that any theory could be formulated, tested, and verified in one research study. Rather, theory is developed and tested over time. What we come to know as ‘the theory’ to explain some phenomenon is the result of many research studies and the efforts of many researchers.” (Keyton, 2001,pp. 8-9).

Practical Application

A second approach to increasing knowledge within the discipline involves providing evidence for the efficacy of a curriculum, a therapeutic technique, or administrative change when there may not be a theory that would predict the results.

Development of Research Tools

We also increase knowledge within a discipline by creating methods to assess behaviors.

A new scale to measure a latent (i.e. unobservable) concept
A new statistical technique
A new method of observational analysis
A technique for coding public data

Dichotomies

Theoretical vs. Applied

What do you want to do with your knowledge?

“Nevertheless, all studies have or should have some theoretical or conceptual framework and be based on previous research literature, even if the primary purpose is applied.” (GML, p. 7)

Quantitative vs. Qualitative

What’s your paradigm?

A philosophy that guides how the research might be conducted.

It determines the types of questions you are interested in an the context in which they are examined.

In the postpositivist/quantitative framework, a specific plan is developed prior to the study.

In the constructivist/ qualitative approach, less structure is placed on the use of specific guidelines in the research design.

Derived from our metatheoretical assumptions:

Epistemology
- One truth < - > Multiple truths
Ontology
- Reactors < - > Humans as actors
Axiology
- Value neutral < - > Value laden

Objective vs. Subjective

Quantitative Data are said to be objective.

Behaviors are collected and quantified with reliable instruments.

Qualitative Data are said to be subjective.

Behaviors could be interpreted differently be different people.

Types of Research

Approaches

The general framework for quantitative research includes 3 main approaches:

Experimental
Nonexperimental
Descriptive

Experimental

The randomized experimental approach has random assignment of participants to the intervention and comparison groups and an active or manipulated independent variable.

The quasi-experimental approach has an active independent variable but without random assignment of participants to groups.

Nonexperimental

The comparative approach also makes a comparison of a few groups on the dependent variables. However, the groups are based on an attribute independent variable, such as gender.

The associational approach, sometimes called correlational, has two or more usually continuous variables for the same group of participants, which are related or associated.

Descriptive

The descriptive approach refers to research questions that use only descriptive, not inferential, statistics.

Why does this matter?

The approaches really refer to the types of research questions that you will ask.

Categorizing helps researchers decide if a goal is to establish cause-and-effect.

It also allows you to directly follow the path from the general purpose of the research to the specific hypothesis.

The type of question/hypothesis will eventually dictate the type of analysis that you conduct!

“The research hypothesis is the bridge between theory and research.”

Metatheory drives Theory
Theory drives RQs and Hs
RQs and Hs drive Method(s)
Method(s) drive Results
Results drive Discussion

In Sum…

Methods are designed to promote the generation of theory, which can then be applied to help humans solve problems.

Quantitative researchers are interested in how an understanding of a particular communication phenomenon might be generalized to a larger population.

Quantitative research:

Is systematic. It is intentional, replicable, and valid.
Observes, explains, and predicts
Tests theories that describe human behavior
Answers questions of group differences or variable relationships

Content Part 2

GML Chapter 14

Ethical Issues in Conducting a Study

Ethical Principles in Human Research
The Belmont Report
ORI / IRB Approval

Ethical Principles in Human Research

Historical Overview

Basically, people have done some messed up stuff. UK is not immune!

Led the federal government to establish regulations on the protection of human subjects.

It mandated that there be institutional review boards at each research institution accepting federal funding to determine whether subjects were placed at risk and, if so, whether the risks so outweighed the benefits and importance of the knowledge to be gained that the subjects should be allowed to accept these risks.

The Belmont Report

Principles and Norms

Respect for persons
Beneficence
Justice
Voluntary Informed Consent
Information
Comprehension
Voluntariness
Privacy
Assessment of Risks and Benefits

Ethical Issues in Sample Selection

Cooperating Agencies
Response Rate
Dropouts

Ethical Issues in the Methods Section

Deception
Debriefing
Experimental Research
Nonexperimental and Qualitative Research
Selection or Development of Instruments
Procedures for Data Collection
Confidentiality

IRBs and How They Work

I am here to guide you through the process!

An IRB or human subjects committee is a group that reviews proposals for studies with human participants before the research can begin.

Week 4 Workshop will help you design your research protocol.

CITI Training

DUE: September 1

Summary

Introductions
Expectations
- Student
- Course
- Professor
Foundations
- Definitions
- Purposes
- Dichotomies
- Approaches
Research Ethics